Adam's blog is now roaming the dirt roads of Vermont, chronicling transportation and travels one hill at a time...

September 10, 2009

A Christmas Wish-List for the Huntington bicyclist...

Christmas is a few months away, and Santa Claus will be coming with presents for all. The big kid bicyclist in me has a Christmas wish list he'd like to share, with the Huntington (and Alexandria too) bicyclist in mind, in hopes that Santa (and the politicians) take notice...

1. Wayfinding/guide signage

If roads and highways can have decent guide signage (like the big green signs on the Interstates and freeways), why can't we have the same for bicyclists and pedestrians? Especially along popular regional trails and routes!

2. Reconstruction of deficient trails

While several trails and routes around the DC area are in fairly good condition, there are several that are narrow, have poor pavement condition, or have tree ruts sticking up under the pavement. These segments should be reconstructed as soon as possible. Examples include much of Holmes Run Trail in Alexandria, part of the Mount Vernon Trail in Old Town Alexandria, and the eastern part of Four Mile Run (generally everything east of the West Glebe Rd crossing).

3. Separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians

Taking a cue from my hometown of Minneapolis, MN, the more popular trails should have separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians. Call me biased (having grown up with them), but I think it's just safer that way, especially for busy trails. Mt. Vernon Trail north of Old Town in particular. At the very least, the busier trails should have a wider surface.

4. A better way through Old Town

Right now, it doesn't matter whether you're a car or a bike...you're stopping at EVERY BLOCK going through eastern Old Town. There's gotta be a better way to get bikes through Old Town and connect the two halves of the Mt. Vernon Trail. Adopting some version of the "Idaho Stop" may help somewhat, but would still require cyclists to slow down at the end of every block. And if there's vehicle traffic at the intersection (as there usually is in Old Town), it would render the "Idaho Stop" a moot point anyway.

One idea would be to create some sort of "cycle track", which is basically a separated bicycle lane within the street. Although it would require eliminating a parking lane (while parking is already in short supply in Old Town), or going to a one-way street (which probably would be opposed by businesses and residents), a few potential candidates would include Union St, Lee St, or Fairfax St. A one-way pair, with northbound bikes on one street and southbound bikes on another street, is also an option, and might be able to be squeezed onto existing streets without going to a one-way street or eliminating a parking lane. Regardless of the option/street chosen, this idea for a "cycle track" would allow bikes to have the right-of-way at least every other block, if not more often, while cars would stop and yield to bikes at those intersections. This would reduce the number of stops bicycles would have to make to travel through Old Town, which may encourage bicycling.

For example, a 2-way cycle track could be implemented along Fairfax St, from Green St (connecting to the Mt Vernon Trail via Royal St, underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) all the way up to Third St, where it would connect to the two legs of the Mt Vernon Trail that pass on either side of the Alexandria Power Plant area.

5. A Cameron Run trail

This one has its basis in a report done by the Huntington Community Association back in 2001. The proposal is for a bike/hike trail along the south edge of Cameron Run, running from the Route 1-WWB trail connection west to Telegraph Rd (and the now-under-construction bike/trail connection across the Beltway there).

That in itself is a good proposal, since Huntington Ave is too narrow and too busy to do anything useful with, plus it would provide a grade-separated crossing of Route 1. Via the Telegraph Rd trail over the Beltway, it'd provide connectivity with the trail along Eisenhower Ave.

'Course, I'd take a Cameron Run trail one step further and continue it west of Telegraph Rd, along the north side of Cameron Run and running underneath both Telegraph Rd and the Beltway, connecting more directly to the trail along the south side of Eisenhower.

6. A South Capitol trail

This idea of mine would address what is currently an acute lack of connectivity on the Maryland side of the Wilson Bridge trail, plus provide a regional connection to the planned trails along the Anacostia River. IMO, the southern portion of this should have been built as part of the Wilson Bridge construction, which would have given this trail a decent head-start.

The trail begins at the east end of the Wilson Bridge, before the Wilson Bridge trail begins up the ramp to cross over the Beltway. My trail idea hugs the edge of the ramp from SB 295 to the Inner Loop, then continues along the west edge of 295 to north of Oxon Cove. Along the edge of Blue Plains, it basically runs between I-295 and Perimeter Rd E, up to the Laboratory Rd/Overlook Ave SW intersection (in front of NRL). The trail then runs along the west side of Overlook Ave SW and South Capitol St (including the ramps at Malcolm X) up to Firth Stirling Ave, where it would tie into the existing trail to the Douglas Bridge and the planned trails along the Anacostia River.

As an "interim phase", the trail could be built as I propose north of the Bolling Visitors Gate, then a bike route could be signed along Overlook Ave SW, Shepherd Pkwy SW, and through DC Village to the trail that runs through Oxon Hill Farm. This idea would require improvements to the trail within Oxon Hill Farm as well as improvements to the sidewalk along Oxon Hill Rd between the farm entrance and the Wilson Bridge trail at Harborview Ave. But it could be a first phase that would at least provide a trail connection between the Wilson Bridge and the Anacostia bridges, if not the more preferred direct routing right to the Wilson Bridge.

7. The Holmes Run/Chambliss Crossing

At least this one is being studied. This would provide a bike/ped connection across Holmes Run (via a recommended "low profile crossing") near the end of the Holmes Run trail, tying into another trail on the Fairfax County side that extends up to Columbia Pike near Lake Barcroft. This is another project that would provide connectivity. Alexandria and Fairfax County should build this.

8. Backlick Run trail

Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail spur off of the Holmes Run Trail, running along the north side of Backlick Run, but stopping short of Van Dorn St. Extending this trail to Van Dorn St, in addition to sidewalk/trail improvements along Van Dorn St, would provide a better non-motorized connection between the Van Dorn St Metro station and the multitudes of newer townhouses along the north side of the existing trail. Even better: extending the trail west of Van Dorn St to Bren Mar Dr/Indian Run Pkwy.

9. Potomac Yards trail

Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail along the east side of Route 1 on the northern part of Potomac Yards...in front of the commercial development that includes Best Buy and Target. There's a "temporary trail" extending south of there, which isn't very good. A more permanent trail should be built along the east side of Route 1, extending south to the new Route 1 bridge over the CSX rail tracks and Metro's Yellow/Blue Lines. This would also easily tie into my #10 below:

10. Alexandria's Metro Linear Park

The city of Alexandria has what their map calls the "Metro Linear Park" between the King St and Braddock Rd Metro stations, which includes a bike/ped trail. Extending this trail north to Route 1 (connecting to my #9 above) and south to the Eisenhower and Telegraph Rd trails (and conversely my #5 above) would provide a continuous trail along the western edge of Old Town Alexandria, which in turn would provide an alternative to the "stop every block" of biking through Old Town (as mentioned in my #4 above).

8 comments:

Awesome list. Especially like the Cameron Run trail to connect it to the Mt. Vernon trail. Like you, I've seen it on various presentations from time to time - but actually having them execute on it...is a different story.

On an aside, your #2 calls out repaving of the rest of the Holmes Run trail, which...was done just a few weeks ago. :) It's pretty sweet - go check it out. Perfect new pavement to match the section they did earlier this summer on Eisenhower.

I live in Old Town and while I agree that it would be great to be able to get around without stop signs (or at least connect the MVT with no stop signs), that's just not the reality of the situation.

Union Street is the best bet for a few reasons--not as much car traffic but also there are several-blocks-long stretches with no stop signs. Maybe for the cycle track wish list, it could go along the Eastern side of Union Street? Most of the streets there dead-end at various parks, so there's no cross traffic to worry about. This way, the only places bikes would have to stop are at 4 way intersections (cycle track or not, you need to stop for cross traffic).

Also, there are lots of private entities that own property along the river that *could* link up with the MVT if they'd allow it. Ford's Crossing (the modern townhouse development on Union right by the beginning of the southern portion of MVT), Robinison Terminal, some property owner of office buildings whose name I forget--Canal Walk maybe? It's the last set of buildings/parks before getting to the mural wall by the Mirant Plant. Unlikely, but these private entities could open up their river fronts to allow the trail to go through. (HA!)

Rainmaker--I was wondering what Froggie was talking about with the Holmes Run trail. I just moved to Alexandria right along this trail a few weeks ago and it seemed pretty nice to me. I didn't realize it had just been repaved. The only stretch that's not so great is the one just south of Duke St--lots of tree roots, cracks, etc. I also really wish someone would sweep up all the gravel on the trail right before it connects to Eisenhower.

Rainmaker/Ian: it's been a few months since I was last on Holmes Run (closing the Clermont/Eisenhower connector over the summer being part of that)...my last time on there, there hadn't been any new pavement. I don't recall where I ran across a lot of tree ruts on the trail, but it might be the part south of Duke St that Ian mentioned. But that's the type of stuff I had in mind when I wrote my #2.

Steve: I'd been thinking about the signage bit for a while...long before you made that post on GGW. Just took me until now to mention it.

Catherine: I was using Fairfax St as an example for illustration purposes. You're right in that Union St has a few blocks without stop signs (I usually use Union St going through town). I'm not expecting there to be a route that's stop sign free, but the city could at least come up with some sort of plan that has FEWER stop signs than currently exist. My idea was to give "cycle track" users the right-of-way at least every other block, which would help.

This is a great list. I have one quick solution for the Old Town problem: use alternatiing yield signs on Royal Street. Even the cars would like it. I don't even think it will change drivers' or cyclist behavior much but it would be a low cost compromise.

Although it is a little far afield, the Rock Creek Trail is orders of magnitude worse than any other trail around. I rode it on Saturday and was amazed at how bad it is.

This list would be a good start. I'd also dream of a trail extending the Mt. Vernon trail south along the river to Fredericksburg. It would be a great long-ride alternative to the W&OD. More easily, your option 8 could be extended along the railroad tracks under the mixing bowl to connect the Eisenhower Avenue trail to Lake Accotink. This trail would allow a good connection from inside to outside of the beltway. It would also allow easy pedestrian access to the Metro station at Van Dorn/Eisenhower and the Springfield VRE station for the many houses and apartment buildings in that area.